By Sophia Yow

Surprising, but true: About 40 percent of young people would break the law by doing something against the interests of their company if they were offered a new car.

This is one of the findings from a survey commissioned by the Independent Commission Against Corruption last year.

The survey was designed to find out young people's attitudes towards work ethics, which include honesty, fairness, integrity, responsibility and the respect for others and work.

One part of the survey was targeted at workers aged 18 to 35, with less than five years' working experience, and at university students.

The survey showed that a significant percentage of young people may lower their ethical standards in certain situations.

Although the situation sounds alarming, people from educational and business fields are not at all taken aback.

Dr. Alan Tse Ching-biu, associate professor in the Department of Marketing at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, assisted in the survey.

"In marketing studies," he said, "people do not do what they have said they would."

In other words, those who said they would break the law in the survey likely would not do it in reality.

Mr. Anthony Webb, a lecturer specializing in business ethics in the Department of Business Studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, proposed a rationale for this phenomenon.

Although he sees some problem in regard to business ethics, he said there is not necessarily any problem with regard to work ethics.

"Personally I don't think there is any problem with their work ethics," he added. Similarly, some businessmen showed little reaction to the survey findings.

Mr. Robert Wong Kwok Hing, a marketing supervisor of the China Department of the Office Machine Division at Ricoh Business Machines Limited, said, "Young workers do lack a sense of responsibility, but that is it."

Mr. William Lo Wai Kee, assistant manager of Reinsurance Division at Winterthur Swiss Insurance, said that this might be caused by "a lack of long-term planning".

However, neither man is worried about the low ethical standards of young employees.

"This can be solved by internal controls. The first step is to set up a code of conduct," he said. "Then a good executive system is required to ensure compliance.

"Of course the managers should set a good example," he added.

Mr. Wong, on the other hand, said that training can improve young people's attitudes.

Mr. Webb of Hong Kong Polytechnic noted the effects of time.

"Those fresh graduates are green and not aware that they should be more cautious.

"However, they will come to learn about this when they are more experienced," he said.

Despite the optimism, the ICAC is not taking any chances.

Mrs. Venessa So Cheung Lai-ying, ICAC regional officer, said, "Our annual surveys over the past four years showed that the younger the respondents are, the more tolerant of corruption they are.

"The reasons for this are threefold. Socially, people are becoming more materialistic. Besides, parents often fail to give attention to their children," she said.

"Finally, school schedules are too tight for teachers to teach ethics in class."

Therefore, the ICAC has planned a series of activities to promote work ethics among young people.

The conference on work ethics of young people on March 15 was an example.

Participants included teachers from secondary and tertiary institutions, employee trainers from companies, and social workers.

Mrs. So said that there are lots of recommendations, and implementations are in full swing.

"We are organising a campaign called the Business Ethics Participation Program to help business organisations promoting the codes of conduct," said Mrs. So.

The program will reach about 35,000 young workers through educational or publicity activities organised by the participating companies.

The ICAC will provide these companies with technical support and possibly some subsidies.

"Since young people's ideas about work ethics are moulded while they are in school, we plan to reach students as well. For example, seminars will be organised for university final-year students," Mrs. So said.

According to the ICAC, business ethics were introduced into the curricula of business faculties during the 1995-96 academic year.

This will be further extended to the curricula of professional faculties such as law, engineering and so on, from the 1996-97 academic year onwards.

Said Mr. So: "We also hope to organise activities through student associations, because university life is a good way to establish proper attitudes."

Teaching materials are also prepared for primary and secondary schools. Some activities will be organised for students in the 1997-98 academic year.

"Besides, teaching materials have been prepared for both kindergarten pupils and their parents," said Mrs. So.

Another campaign is the Youth Ethics Participation Program, in which ICAC will sponsor voluntary agents to organise activities.

"Until now, we have received 16 proposals from 15 organisations," said Mrs. So. They include Lingnan College, Breakthrough Magazine, Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, and Caritas, to name a few.

A 15-minute video is available to employee trainers and university teachers. It shows ethical dilemmas young employees may encounter.

Commenting on the effectiveness of this educational approach, Mrs. So said, "It depends on how much time is spent.

"Even if not much can be done, at least we have helped students to develop critical thinking and awareness of the issue of work ethics."

All you need to know about ethics is nothing at all. . .

Business ethics has been a required course for students in the Department of Business Studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

However, students at The Chinese University of Hong Kong seem to be less fortunate than their counterparts.

Alex, who requested that his full name be withheld, is a final-year undergraduate studying professional accountancy at the Chinese University.

He said that, apart from professional ethics in accounting, no other related topics are taught.

Students are given instructions on how to remain independent, to be competent and so on.

There are few case studies on dilemmas.

Alex said, "If the lecturer has such experience, he may share it with us."

However, he considered such case studies impractical.

"In reality, you may lose your clients — or even your job — if you stick to the rules," he said.

Wing, who also requested that her full name be withheld, is a final-year student doing integrated bachelor of business administration at the same university.

Said she: "I don't think that school plays an important role in teaching us ethics.

"Our personalities, families and the people we meet have greater effect on our ethical standards," she added.

Most importantly, ethics-related courses are not included in the curriculum at all.

She said, "Some textbooks mention business ethics, but no one pays much attention to them. You won't relate them to your profession.

"Meanwhile, so little has been said about it," she added.

Dr. Tse, who conducted last year's ICAC survey on the subject, said that ethics should be introduced as a compulsory course for all students.

Said he: "After conducting this survey, I pay more attention to teaching ethics in my classes."